Page 35 of Sleeping with the Frenemy

They walked away, leaving Leo with Abuelo Papo only.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Abuelo asked as soon as they were alone.

“What are you talking about?” Leo asked.

“You’ve been sitting here all night sipping on the same drink looking pissed off. Meanwhile, your sister and cousins are over there trying to get Sofi to join some dating app,” he hissed.

“What?” Leo asked loudly, causing a few of the remaining customers to turn and look at him. He lowered his voice. “A dating app?”

“And she said she’d think about it,” Abuelo said. “Have you been doing nothing?”

“I know what I’m doing,” Leo told his grandpa. “She only said that because she’s freaking out.” At least that’s what he was going to tell himself.

Abuelo didn’t seem to believe that any more than Leo did. “Don’t worry. I’m going to call Fina and we’ll figure something out.”

Leo wondered briefly if he should be worried that Abuelo and Doña Fina were making plans together without him, but brushed it off when he saw Sofi wave her hand at the last of his family member still present and start making her way toward the kitchen.

“Are you leaving?” Abuelo Papo asked Sofi.

“Yeah,” Sofi said. “Tomorrow is going to be a long day and I need to rest up for the shenanigans.”

“I’m leaving too.” Leo jumped up and shoved the ball back into his pocket.

“Leo, throw out the garbage for your sister,” Abuelo told him. “The bags are piling up in the kitchen and it stinks. Sofi can help you. Now I gotta go before that jerk Benny convinces them to leave me stranded.” With that he walked away.

Leo turned to Sofi, who was watching Abuelo Papo leave with a surprised look on her face. Leo got it. It wasn’t often his abuelo made demands of anyone, especially her. “Come on, Nelly Furtado,” he said, making a subtle dig about her being a man-eater.

“After you and those extra snug jeans, Rico Suave.”

“You’re welcome for the view,” he said as he pushed open the swinging doors.

Besides a muttered comment about how it was rude of him to have more ass than her, Sofi stayed quiet as he collected the large black trash bags and opened the back door to the alley. There was hardly a pile like his abuelo had claimed, so Leo didn’t bother handing any to Sofi, but she followed anyway. The kitchen door slammed shut behind them. Leo adjusted the garbage bags over his good shoulder.

“That was really nice of Kamilah to throw me a surprise welcome back party,” Sofi said.

“She missed you,” Leo told her. “Everyone did.”

Sofi swallowed thickly but didn’t respond.

He lifted his elbow to push the gate to the dumpster enclosure open, but a loud scrambling sound from inside had him dropping the bags, hooking an arm around Sofi’s waist and pulling them both away from the gate.

“What the hell was that?” Sofi asked.

Leo held up a hand. “It sounded like an animal.” He took a few steps forward.

“What are you doing?” The alarm in her voice was enough to give him pause.

He shot her a look that was meant to be comforting. “It’s fine. I’m just going to take a look.”

“I swear to God, Leo, if you get bit by a raccoon, I’m going to let your ass get rabies.”

“That sounded too big to be a raccoon.”

“Too big? You mean like a coyote or something?”

He gave her a look. “Sofi, we’re in the middle of the city. There are no coyotes here.”

“Don’t you watch the news? Coyote sightings are the highest they’ve been in years and we’re only a few blocks from a huge park.” She eyed the enclosure with trepidation.

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